ومن جملة رواة هذا الحديث الحسين بن علوان...

ومن جملة رواة هذا الحديث الحسين بن علوان، وهو سُنِّي المذهب، وعبارة النجاشي في ترجمته موهمة تحتمل عود التوثيق فيها إليه أو إلى أخيه الحسن، ولا توثيق آخر له، ولهذا فنحن متوقفون فيه، وإن وثّقه بعض الأعلام، وضعَّفه بعض آخر . والحاصل أن هذا الحديث اشتمل على راوٍ زيدي، وآخر سُني المذهب، وكلاهما لم يثبت توثيقهما، وما قيل في توثيقهما ليس محلاً للاعتماد والوثوق. This report has a ḍa’if chain , due to ‘Amr b. Khalid al-Wasiṭi, for there is no tawthiq (accreditation) for him in the books of al-rijal .

There is also dispute about his sect. It is said that he was from the Ahl al-Sunnah. However, the widespread opinion is that he was from the leaders of the Zaydiyyah, and he narrated most of his reports from Zayd b. ‘Ali, including this report. One of the narrators of this hadith is also al-Hasan b. ‘Alwan, and he was a Sunni by sect. As for the statement of al-Najashi in his tarjamah , it is inconclusive.

It is possible that the tawthiq in it refers to him or to his brother, al-Hasan; and there is no other tawthiq for him. For this reason, we stop short about him, even those some of the great ‘ulama call him thiqah while others declare him ḍa’if . In conclusion, this hadith has a Zaydi reporter, and another who belonged to the Sunni sect; and tawthiq is not established for both of them.

As for the tawthiq that is said for them both, it is neither reliable nor trustworthy .[^3] ‘Allamah al-Majlisi (d. 1111 H) also declares about the hadith above: ضعيف أو موثق Ḍa’if or Muwaththaq .[^4] Apparently, the best that the chain of the hadith can be is muwaththaq . However, in line with the Shi’i rijali manhaj , if a muwaththaq -chained hadith contradicts a sahih -chained hadith , the former becomes munkar (rejected) and therefore very ḍa’if .

Al-Ṭusi submits: وأما العدالة المراعاة في ترجيح أحد الخبرين على الاخر فهو: أن يكون الراوي معتقدا للحق، مستبصرا ثقة في دينه، متحرجا من الكذب غير متهم فيما يرويه. فأما إذا كان مخالفا في الاعتقاد لأصل المذهب وروى مع ذلك عن الأئمة عليهم السلام نظر فيما يرويه. فان كان هناك من طرق الموثوق بهم ما يخالفه وجب اطراح خبره.

As for the ‘adalah that is required in the preference of one of two reports over another, it is: that the narrator should have the true ‘aqidah , enlightened, trustworthy in his religion, who avoids telling lies, not accused in what he narrates. But, if he deviates in ‘aqidah from the root of the (Shi’i) sect, and narrates nonetheless from the Imams, peace be upon them, what he narrates is looked at.